This announcement brings news that is both exhilarating and heartbreaking at the very same time.

After years of lobbying record executive Gordon Anderson (first when he was with Collectors' Choice Music, and now with his new company Real Gone Music) to release the great master and maestro Percy Faith's classic 1958 Christmas album Hallelujah, he has finally taken me up on my suggestion and has secured the rights from Sony Music and will release the album on CD this Christmas of 2012. In addition, he has also agreed to release it with the original 1958 album cover artwork. In 1997, when Sony first issued the LP on CD, they used the 1965 reissue LP artwork. And although that reissue artwork (of the Nativity) was beautiful, the new release will boast the original 'Angel with Harp' artwork.

So, finally, this legendary album will not only be released, but in its original form. That's the wonderful news.

However, sadly, my joy is tempered somewhat by the sobering news that he intends to release the album on a double CD coupled with the original 1954 Mono recording of Music Of Christmas -- and not the later classic 1959 Stereo re-recording, which is still currently being printed by Sony but has still to this day never has been properly remastered. And while Gordon has categorically assured me that he will do a full and proper remastering of the 1954 recording (and I'm sure he will), that doesn't change the fact that the original 1954 Mono recording -- while brilliant in its own right -- was nevertheless not only technologically inferior to the 1959 re-recording (because of the lack of Stereo) but also artistically inferior to the later masterful and definitive 1959 Stereo re-recording.

Over the years many folks on the message board have told me that they ideally wanted to see the two recordings (the 1959 Stereo re-recording of Music Of Christmas and the 1958 album Hallelujah) released on a double CD. But I had always told them repeatedly that it was highly unlikely Sony would ever relinquish the printing rights to another record company as they are very protective of Mr. Faith's Christmas material -- especially his 1959 Stereo re-recording, which has never been out-of-print since its release 53 years ago in 1959. The shame about it is that, again, Sony has never taken the time and money to properly remaster the 1959 recording, notwithstanding the fact that many folks have lobbied them to do so for many years now -- including yours truly.

My fervent wish would have been that Sony would have ceded the printing rights for the 1959 Stereo recording to Gordon's company so it could have gotten a proper and well-deserved remastering. However, Sony will probably never stop printing the 1959 album themselves, as it is just too much of a money-maker for them given its legendary status. So unfortunately, this scenario is the best anybody's going to be able to do: a double CD of both albums using the original 1954 Mono recording.

The silver lining in this is that Gordon's company, Real Gone Music, will be the very first company to release the original 1954 recording with the original 1954 artwork. And it is a very famous one indeed. In fact, on my list of the greatest Christmas album covers of all-time, it ranks Number 2, second only to the classic cover for Fred Waring's 1955 Decca Christmas album 'Twas The Night Before Christmas, which sported a rendering by the great American artist Norman Rockwell called "Caught Napping" (a drawing of Santa and his elves discovering two small children sleeping in a chair Christmas Eve night). However, the 1954 Music Of Christmas artwork is very poignant as well: A drawing of a father playing Santa with his daughter sleeping in his arms.

Notwithstanding the joy of seeing the first release of the original 1954 artwork, I still wish that Gordon was releasing the double CD with the 1959 Stereo re-recording properly remastered, it would have made a great, great package. And unfortunately, as it stands now, I don't foresee the day when the legendary 1959 recording will ever receive a proper remastering. And that is quite sobering indeed.

As anyone who is familiar with this message board already knows, in my Top 500 of the greatest Christmas albums of all-time, Percy Faith is at the very top. And of the Christmas albums that I have helped manage to get back into print and released on CD so far, it is the Percy Faith and Mantovani albums that I am the most proud. Someday, perhaps, I will manage to convince Sony to do the right thing and remaster the 1959 Stereo re-recording, which is the Number 1 album on my Top 500list.

I've posted this several times on the message board before, but given the occasion of the upcoming release of the new CD, I am going to post it again here. It is an excerpt from a post that I previously filed on the message board several years back that pretty much says it all about Percy Faith's classic and legendary albums Music Of Christmas and Hallelujah:In my entire collection, there are only two albums that I do not have the audacity to rate on my scale of 1-10, as they are beyond my ability to apply such an arbitrary number due to the sheer perfection that was achieved in their majesty and reverence of arranging, conducting and performance. They are: Music Of Christmas, originally released in 1954 in mono, then re-recorded and re-released in 1959 in stereo; and Hallelujah, originally released in 1958, then later reissued in 1965 asMusic of Christmas, Volume 2. To rate these two albums in my opinion, would be like putting a price on the Mona Lisa -- which of course, is priceless. Mr. Faith's third and final Christmas album was Christmas Is from 1966, and I rate this album at 8 on my scale of 1-10.One last thing about the new CD:Gordon is also including as bonus tracks the three Christmas songs that Mr. Faith recorded very early in his career in 1950. These songs areSleigh Ride, Christmas In My Heart and Christmas In Killarney. All three had only previously been released in 1950 as singles by Columbia Records.

Here now is the original album cover artwork for the 1954 and 1958 Percy Faith Christmas albums that will soon be released:

When Gordon advises me the exact street date for the CD, I'll post it on this thread.

I'm starting to feel like I'm in an episode of "One Step Beyond," because just yesterday I started thinking about Percy Faith's recording of "Gesu Bambino" and wondering how I would ever be able to lay my hands on a CD quality recording of it (that I could afford, that is).

And here I have my answer!

It's apparent that you have psychic powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men, my friend.

What I recall - and I'm open to being corrected - is that while 'Music of Christmas' was recorded once in mono and then re-recorded in stereo, 'Hallelujah' was only recorded once but was called 'Hallelujah' in its mono form and 'Music of Christmas' in its stereo form. If my recollection is correct, then my question is: will this new release of 'Hallelujah' be in mono or stereo? Given the history, and general market considerations, I'm guessing that both of the new releases will be in mono, because CBS would not conceive of re-releasing either album in disc form in mono themselves. They do see value in the stereo releases, or at least Volume 1, which they won't let go of. And you're right, if they're going to insist on hanging on to Volume 1, at least remaster the dang thing! Still, I welcome the release of the 1954 'Music of', especially with fresh mastering. And hope springs eternal....

I'm glad to hear that you are looking forward to the new CD. And yes, Gesu Bambino is one of the absolute best songs on the album. It is a stunningly beautiful arrangement; so poignant and reverent. It is simply quintessentialPercy Faith.

Jay:

No, what you said was categorically not correct. The album Hallelujah was recorded and released in Stereo in 1958. All you have to do is scroll above to my post and see the album cover artwork for the LP. At the very top of the cover you will clearly see the iconic Columbia Records left and right arrows and the words Stereo (preceding the left arrow) and Fidelity (following the right arrow). As
was common practice in those years, Columbia Records also offered a Mono version of
the Stereo recording for the folks that didn't yet have Stereophonic
equipment. The album cover for the Mono version was the same except it did not sport the Stereo Fidelity left and right arrows.If you recall, back in July of 2011, when I announced the new Christmas compilation CD from Guild Music, you had posted a message on the board that erroneously stated that the album Hallelujah was recorded twice; first in Mono and then again later in Stereo. And if you also recall, in my reply, I clearly and unequivocally stated that this was not correct and I posted the recording dates for both Mr. Faith's Music Of Christmas (which was indeed recorded twice) and Hallelujah (which absolutely wasn't). For the edification of others on this message board, I am now going to post that information again here:

PERCY FAITH

Music Of ChristmasRecorded (in Mono) on May 24th, 25th and 26th 1954 in New York City (Columbia catalog #CL-588)Re-Recorded (in Stereo) on June 16th and 19th 1959 in New York City (Columbia catalog #CL-1381/CS-8176)

HallelujahRecorded (in Stereo) on May 20th, 21st and 29th 1958 in New York City (Columbia catalog #CL-1187/CS-8033)

If my explanation isn't correct or accurate, please correct it for me as I am not the expert. Thank you.

Well, as most of you know, I prefer Vinyl instead of CD's, but for those who are anxiously awaiting for these CD's, Chip is entirely correct that the 1959 Stereo release of "Music of Christmas" is far superior to the 1954 MONO release.

Not just because it is in Stereo, but Mr. Faith actually went back to the recording studio, hall or whatever they called it with his orchestra and re-recorded every single song and there are subtle changes to the arrangements of the songs.

If you listen to the MONO album alone and then listen to the Stereo album alone, you probably wouldn't notice anything other than it being in Stereo, but if you were to play them simultaneously, you would hear the changes and a few songs are several seconds longer on the Stereo recordings.

I do believe that Chip had mentioned several times that Mr. Faith actually re-recorded the 1959 album but I don't remember if he mentioned that some of the songs are longer or not.

Though I love the artwork on the 1954 MONO release, I prefer the 1959 Stereo release for listening purposes.

Your assessment is absolutelycorrect. Mr. Faith did indeed make subtle changes to his arrangements for the songs on the 1959 Stereo re-recording of Music Of Christmas -- both in timing and tempo. Though the changes were subtle, they vastly improved the quality of the recording. It was a more polished and perfected performance.

Even though the Mono and Stereo versions of the album were only recorded 5 years apart, Mr. Faith had grown considerably during that time and was at his artistic peak when he recorded Hallelujah in 1958and re-recorded Music Of Christmas in 1959.

Kudos to you, Susan. It is very gratifying to me, a collector and connoisseur of Christmas music for over 40 years now, to know that there is someone else out there like yourself who also has such a discerning ear and keen love and appreciation of Mr. Faith's Christmas music -- and Christmas music in general for that matter.

But I would expect nothing less from my only Diamond member. Good girl.

Thanks for your kind words... I sometimes say things, but part turns out to be factual and other's are part of something else I remembered and I combine the two unintentionally. Glad I got this one right for a change.

I just wish my knowledge was as vast as yours, but we grew up in different circumstances and different paths lead to different results, but our devition to the music and the appreciation we get from listening to it is something special, A gift if you will, and not too many people have that these days and wouldn't notice the changes in tempo and timing, not just with Percy Faith, but in other music too.

Kudus to you too Chip for your devotion to keeping The Yule Log and it's music alive and all that you do in helping to get a lot of this music released on CD for those who prefer CD's.

Wow, what a 'good news / bad news' situation. I've pestered Gordon for years for "Music of Christmas" to be remastered, but forgot to mention we'd like the STEREO 1959 version; well, at least we're half way there and that's very very good.

As far as 2 other bonus songs to add, I would suggest the instrumental song that would eventually morph into "Christmas Is" and the other song that is also an insturmental version of "When A Child Is Born".

Obtaining
the rights to the 1959 Stereo re-recording just isn't possible. As I
have said many times on the message board before and again in my opening
post on this thread, Sony will not relinquish the rights to the
recording to another record company.

As for adding the instrumental version of Christmas Is (aka Judy) as well as the instrumental When A Child Is Born (aka Soleado) to the new CD as bonus tracks, I did push for it. It's a shame because they would have made excellent additions.

Well this is big news! Too bad the 1959 re-recording of Music of Christmas won't be part of this reissue but it's great that the beautiful artwork from the original 1954 release will return. As I've mentioned before, my mom had the 45 EP version, so I have some familiarity with the original 1954 release.

I actually had the 1958 Hallelujah! album as a Columbia budget release called Music of Christmas, Vol. 2. That one got lost in one of my moves. Now it's coming home, along with the original 1954 Music of Christmas. I'll be happy to have both editions of Music of Christmas as well as Hallelujah! Welcome back to my home, Percy Faith! You've been missed!

I happened to be looking into a little bit of the history of "Music of Christmas". While you and many other sources note a 1959 recording and release for the stereo re-recording of "Music of Christmas" --

This is, indeed, a "good news/bad news" type of release. It will be awfully nice to have Hallelujah! back in print again, though.

What I was *really* hoping for was a Complete Christmas Recordings set for Mr. Faith, along the lines of what they did with Perry Como on Collectors Choice two years ago. You could easily fill two (or possibly even three) CDs with the following:

The explanation is very simple: the first Billboard article was a misprint and the second Billboard article you apparently have misinterpreted somehow.

The
first Billboard article dated October 20, 1958 should have referred to
Mr. Faith's new Christmas LP release for that year as Hallelujah, notMusic Of Christmas (or as they inaccurately said Music At Christmas). It was just a misprint, plain and simple. I've cautioned many, many times on the message board over the years that you simply can't believe everything you read.

The second Billboard article from November 24, 1958 entitled "Deejays' Favorite Christmas Disks" is a list of the most frequently played Christmas records by deejays each Christmas season. The list was the result of a Billboard survey. And the Number 1 Christmas LP played each Christmas season was, no surprise, Percy Faith's Music Of Christmas (the Mono version, as the Stereo version had not yet been recorded).

Mike:

Getting those extra tracks would have been nice, but there was no way that was going to happen. Gordon decided to just go with the three that I mentioned in my opening post on the thread.

To say that I am extremely disappointed is an understatement. Who in their right mind would want a 1954 mono recording when something better exists?! Why even bother?! I am fortunate to already have Music of Christmas Volume2 on CD, which I bought soon after it went out of print for under $5. I was so desperately looking forward to a remaster of the stereo recording, which has been all but ruined by moronic engineering. I'm sure Gordon Anderson did the best he could, but I'm in shock at the gall of Columbia Records to toss out such a pathetic bone. And what makes it even more insulting is that they sit on the 1959 classic like a bratty child who is to ornery to do something with it, but too selfish to let somebody else have it who would.

I still pester them with e-mails about the need to remaster this classic, and never have I ever received even the courtesy of a reply from this ill-bred bunch. Amazon basically lists the Columbia version as not currently being printed, however Sony pulls this every year only to release it again.

As I expressed in my opening post on this thread, I am disappointed too. I would have much rather Hallelujah been released by itself as a single CD, than to be coupled on a double CD with the old and inferior 1954 Mono recording of Music Of Christmas. As I said many times on the message board before, Sony will never cede the rights to the 1959 Stereo recording of Music Of Christmas to another record company. So Gordon chose to remaster and release the original 1954 Mono recording and release it with Hallelujah on a double CD.

Even with its technical flaws, the Sony CD of the 1959 Stereo re-recoding of Music Of Christmas is vastly superior to the original 1954 recording -- regardless of how well the 1954 recording is remastered.

To All:

I have a big update for you regarding the new CD. Gordon advised me yesterday that he has decided not to use the 1997 Sony remaster of Hallelujah for his new Percy Faith CD, and will be doing a completelynew
remastering job. The contract has been awarded to Battery Remastering
Studios here in New York, and the project assigned to renowned
remastering engineer, Maria Triana. I spoke with her yesterday and was very
impressed. She will do a straight remastering job with no remixing.

This is something that I was hoping for, as I have never been happy with the 1997 Sony remaster. When Sony remastered the recording in 1997, they did a beautiful job but
because of the remixing process, the music was altered slightly and the
CD had a distinctly different sound from the original 1958 recording. Many folks might not even notice a difference, but I know this music as well as I know my own name and I can tell you unequivocally that there was a decided difference in the music on the remastered CD than from the original 1958 LP. So I will most definitely be looking forward to the new Hallelujah remaster.

This remixing process is exactly
why Stu Phillips (Maestro of the Hollyridge Strings) had told me why he
wanted to sit in on the remastering sessions in 2008 when Capitol
Records remastered his classic 1965 Christmas album, Christmas Favorites.
I asked him why the record companies seem to find it necessary to remix
the music for these reissue CDs and here is what he said:"It
seems that all the record companies think that they have to better what
was done before. Make it sound more today. I am sitting in to make sure
that they don't mess with the original sound."

Thankfully, the Hollyridge Strings reissue CD turned out fine; but that's not always the case with these remastered reissue CDs.

Now that Percy Faith's album Hallelujah will get another lease on life with a new and proper remastering, I am confident that it will come out right this time.

After spending an obscene amount of money on a 1997 CD of Hallelujah, I wasn't too excited about spending more money on another copy, but if it is a straight remaster, then that would be great and a must-buy this year. I want to lead the "Mission Impossible" crew into the underground salt mine vaults with of all the original master tapes and 'borrow' the 1959 MofC tapes, copy, remaster, and have my MI team return the tapes before Columbia/Sony/Legacy/RCA realizes that they're missing!

(off topic) - there were no better Mission: Impossible actors than the great late Greg Morris and Peter Graves as Jim Phelps and when the movie made him a bad guy, I gave-up on Tom Cruise & crew. Greg Morris inspired me to be an engineer! (the 60's/70's MI and 1988 retread were the best IMO)....and now, back to our regularly scheduled music....

I didn't realize you lived in NJ since 1972. So you were most likely able to view the 1972 broadcast of The WPIX Yule Log, I would imagine. I don't believe it was available in Cleveland at the time and I don't think Cable TV companies were offering WGN yet. But as I've mentioned before, I was able to watch it from 1966 on, being our Cable TV company gave us WPIX even though in 1966 I was living in VT.

As you know, I was living in Mt. Kisco, NY from 1970-1975 so I was actually able to listen to The WPIX Yule Log in Stereo on WPIX FM which made it all that more special. Also, we didn't have Cable TV there but were able to pick up WPIX over the air with a set of rabbit ear antenna. They finally got Cable TV in late 1974 but we really didn't need it being the signals from NY and NJ were so strong we could pick up almost all the stations except for some UHF ones.

I never missed a broadcast until WGN America didn't broadcast it and then the next year when I had Dish Network, we lost satellite signal so I missed it then and also in 2011 being we didn't get Antenna TV until the first week of January 2012.

You probably just forgot, but I've talked about our move to New Jersey on the message board several times in the past, and how it related our family discovering the Yule Log our first Christmas here in 1972.
In fact, I even mentioned it in my interview with Washington D.C.'s NPR
(National Public Radio). For anyone not aware of the article and would
like to read it, Click here.

I vaguely remember now that you've refreshed my memory, but I was up all night until 6:30 this morning with computer work and I was also trying to catch up on some things I have DVR'd and really wanted to go to bed, but I had to finish the computer work so I wasn't thinking clearly, and I had a flash of memory fragments when I read your post.

I don't know if you have seen any clips, if they exist, of the 1966 Original broadcast or not, but I do remember watching it myself on Christmas Eve., and it was the most beautigul thing I had seen for being an 8 year old.

I do realize that the soundtrack was much different than it is now, and that there were more songs from the more famous artists and actually fewer artists than there are now. I can't remember any specific music or order of the songs, but remember that I had family who had a lot of the music from then and a few albums, in later years, I acquired. Then when I really got into record collecting, I acquired many more, but nowhere near what you have.

I know I've mentioned this before, but it would be nice if Kay Cooper has found a copy of the 1966 broadcast in Bill's things that she hasn't gone through yet. I've also mentioned before that it would be nice if a former employee of WPIX might have a copy of the 1966 broadcast too.

It wouldn't compare in quality to the current program, but for nostalgia purposes, it would be nice to have a version of it. Oh well, we can hope that it may exist in a vault somewhere such as a copy of the California reshoot in the film canister labeled "The Honeymooners A Dog's Life", did, which they had cleaned and color corrected and them came up with the special "A Logs Life"

I know on 1966 there weren't many Tribune Stations that broadcast The Yule Log, but it would also be nice if one of their affiliates that did broadcast it had a copy in their archives too. But I guess it would be a difficult task to try and see which stations broadcasst it and who the station manager was and so on.

There's also a possibility that they didn't have it on tape, but did it via repeaters, or through phone lines so they were actually broadcasting from WPIX so to speak. I don't think Satellites were used that much for TV broadcasting until the 1970's, but I am not an expert in this area.

Of all the Christmas CDs that I have so far been able to get back into print, this is the one that I am by far the most proud. It was a pleasure working with Gordon on this one and he did an outstanding job in his sales blurb promoting the new CD. In case anyone hasn't already seen it on Amazon or the Real Gone Music website, I'd like to post it here. Thank you Gordon for heeding my advice on reissuing this legendary music by the great master and maestro Percy Faith, and also thanks for the generous reference to my Yule Log.com website and to Mr. Faith's #1 ranking in my Top 300 of the greatest Christmas albums of all-time.

PERCY FAITHThe Complete Music of Christmas(2-CD Set)

You know a Christmas album is classic when it gets re-recorded in stereo five years after its initial release. You know it's an all-time classic when that re-recording hits the charts a full five years after its initial release. And you know it's downright legendary when the record company goes to the trouble of giving a subsequent Christmas album the same name a full seven years after its initial release under a different title. There's only one Christmas album (or one album, period) that fits all these criteria: Percy Faith's 1954 masterpiece, The Music of Christmas. Majestic, sumptuous, overpowering...the superlatives flow easily when describing this recording, which brought the arranging, orchestrating and conducting prowess of the young maestro to bear on some of the most beloved hymns and carols of all time. Yet, the original mono recording of this holiday essential and its iconic cover art has NEVER been issued on a legitimate CD until now (the 1959 stereo re-recording, which charted in 1964, has never gone out of print, and ranks #1 among Christmas albums at the Christmas music site The Yule Log)! Even better, we've added three mono holiday-themed singles from the 1950s as a little stocking stuffer to wind up disc one. Disc two presents the original stereo version of the 1958 release Hallelujah!; a Christmas classic in its own right, it shows what holiday magic Percy Faith could wield in the stereophonic realm. That album was re-named The Music of Christmas Volume 2 in 1965 (hence the title of this collection); we offer it here with its original 1958 cover art. Both albums feature a brand-new remastering by Maria Triana at Battery Studios in NYC that just leaps out of the stereo, and come with new liner notes. 29 tracks of holiday favorites at their orchestral zenith!

SELLING POINTS:

• Both Music of Christmas Albums onOne 2-CD Set• Both Albums Rank at the Top of WishLists of Christmas Music Fans• The Original 1954 Mono Version ofMusic of Christmas Has Never BeenIssued on Legitimate CD• Features Original, Iconic Cover Artfrom Music of Christmas andHallelujah! Albums• Sparkling New Remastering byMaria Triana at Battery Studios in NYC• Includes Three Christmas-ThemedBonus Singles• New Liner Notes

1. Joy to the World 2. Silent Night, Holy Night 3. Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly 4. It Came upon the Midnight Clear 5. Good King Wencelas 6. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing 7. The First Noel 8. Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming/O Little Town of Bethlehem 9. O Holy Night10. The Holly and the Ivy/Here We Go A-Caroling11. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen12. O Come, All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles)

1. Hallelujah Chorus 2. Away in a Manger 3. We Three Kings of Orient Are 4. Gesu Bambino 5. Angels We Have Heard on High 6. Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella 7. Good Christian Men, Rejoice 8. Carol of the Bells 9. I Wonder as I Wander10. I Saw Three Ships11. What Child Is This (Greensleeves)12. Angels from the Realms of Glory13. O, Tannenbaum14. Christians Awake!

I know I've waited a while to tell you how proud I am of you bud, but hey. You know how busy I am, and I just HAD to see a release-date and cover-art before I could finally believe you had pulled this off! (I mean I knew you did it when you announced it a few months back, but it sounded SO good, I had wondered if the record labels at be, would get cold feet?! And would back out of the deal at the last minute!)

Thanks HEAVENS they didn’t!

So many thrillerbabies are SO proud of you Lawrence F. “Chip“ Arcuri.

And November 13th, 2012 … is a day for the history books.

I love when underdogs accept that miracles such as this … could never happen in their own lifetime, and then, they actually end up helping to PULL ONE OFF themselves … that defies and debunks their once half-empty thoughts.

YOU made our Christmas cup-of-cheer ... half-FULL again Lawrence F. "Chip" Arcuri … by having FAITH in FAITH. And it will NEVER be forgotten.

And thanks for doing something on Andy Williams.

I saw it on the news today, and almost cried.

We are so blessed to have so much of him for the season.

(I want that old '74 Christmas album, “Christmas Present” remastered and ready now! If the powers at be are smart, they’ll get to work, and FAST! I love his version of “I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day” on that one.)

Can't wait to get PERCY FAITH’s “Hallelujah” in the mail (with ORIGINAL ART!), and then rush to this board to see everyone's posts … AFTER I’ve spun it a few times to soak in the awe. (Sony? Release the giant now. You’ve held it unremastered long enough.)

It looks like THIS year, we'll all get your “Faith” Lawrence a little sooner than we were able to get your wonderful Mantovani milestone of “Christmas Carols.” (I want to buy more copies of this milestone, but its price is getting a bit steep these days. Glad to at least own ONE copy. I pray it doesn’t fall out of print, and that Gordon saves it from doing so! I have this same prayer for Perry Como’s 3-disc Complete Christmas Collection that not many of us had the chance to get before it was yanked! Looks like we’re finally getting it back from Gordon on October 30th! SMART MOVE Gordon. VERY smart! Now don’t dare let Mantovani fall out of our grasp again. PLEASE! Not AGAIN!)

On behalf of my generation, and I speak for many Chip, HATS OFF TO YOU. Just because the Jedi-council seems small at times, doesn’t mean we’re not all still listening, watching, and waiting … with HOPE.

Some of our wait … is OVER.

Praise to all who listened to YOU … listening to US … listening to YOU!

One domino … can affect thousands, and alter the course of undetermined destiny.

BASK in this pride Master-Chip.

You SO deserve it.

And keep your updates coming. Just because I don’t reply on the blogs to them all, doesn’t mean I’m not reading them. I miss getting more OF them, and am so looking forward to Christmas approaching, just to see more of you in my inbox.

Thank you so very much for your
very kind, generous and heartfelt words. I am very touched. It makes all the blood, sweat and tears that I
expend in everything I do so worthwhile. I love your enthusiasm and passion for
the website, the music, the upcoming Percy Faith CD and everything Christmas. I
hope it's contagious to all those who read your post. You're a very special
person and are truly blessed with the most precious gift of a pure, simple and
burning love for the little things in life that mean the most. God bless you, my boy, and nice to see you back on the board.

You're welcome my friend! And the feeling is mutual.As Chris Reeve said at the end of Superman 2 to the President, "Sorry I've been away so long. I won't let you down again."November 13th, can't believe it!!! Faith is MINE November 13th!

I will pre-order this immediately this morning!Now I hope you can help get a release of 1965's Living Voices "The Little Drummer Boy" which is one of the best Christmas records ever! I love their rendition of "Do You Hear What I Hear," and the entire record makes any day feel like Christmas. "Be a Santa" and "The Little Christmas Tree Waltz" are other great tracks!

Yes, I'd very much like to get the Living Voices 1965 album The Little Drummer Boy back in print. I'd especially like to do this for my dear friend Ethel Gabriel, the legendary RCA Records producer who created the Living Voices and produced all of their albums. Ethel was very grateful to me when I included one of her songs (Be A Santa) in the new fourth hour of the Yule Log that I added to the program in 2009. I'd especially like to get the entire 1965 album back in print to further preserve her musical legacy to the world.

Chip,I locked my own post because I saw this afterwards! But,I'm happy Gordon Anderson has finally done what many here had thought was impossible,aquired the Faith 2 Volume set! And,the fact he's included the Legendary Original 1954 1st volume is worth its weight in gold in itself!

11-02-12 @ 06:42 AMFollow-up to above message:

Maybe if the sales are good one on this one,it will motivate Sony to Remaster a new CD version and possibly do a Columbia/Legacy "Expanded Edition" of the Stereo one,Perhaps? Sure hope so!

*Message edited by the Yule Log.com Message Board Administrator on 11/02/12 to combine two reply posts by the same member. Also, double-post was deleted.

I am glad that these 2 recordings are finally seeing the light of day. Like everyone else, I wish CBS/SONY would remaster the MofC stereo recording (maybe even with the 6 eye stereo fidelity label). As for myself, I've owned the stereo version of MofC on CD for a long time and it is one of the first CD's to get a spin at Christmas (along with Merry Christmas and Good Night, Dear Lord by Johnny Mathis-orchestra conducted by PERCY FAITH).

I have the following of Faith's Christmas music: Original pressing mono (reddish/brown label), The Columbia Album of Christmas Music C2L-15 (2 LP set of MofC and Hallelujah-mono-6 eye label-if they'd waited a year they could have had a stereo package of these two albums. The new CD release kind of mirrors this package if they'd mixed one mono and one stereo album in the 2 record set, but Columbia just sold the stereo Halleujah separately and never paired it with the stereo MofC), MofC stereo re-recording (stereo fidelity 6 eye label), and 1 replacement album jacket (no record) from later re-issue of MofC on Columbia Limited Edition series (brown label with fat white "C" at the top).

Have kept the MofC 2 in my sights on Amazon to see if it would ever come up at a decent price-HA! Am glad I was patient! Have already pre-ordered this set and can't wait to hear Halleujah in stereo for the first time!

I didn't realize that Columbia did a double release in 1958 and even though I have the original releases of these albums, it would be nice to have this extra bonus on Vinyl in my collection, I am guessing it's probably hard to find. But I'm sure it would be the "6-Eye" for the original release.

Thank you for the warm welcome! The MofC sleeve I own is from the second reissue of that album on Columbia's Limited Edition label (The chocolate brown label with the fat white "C" at the top). I was not aware of its first reissue on the Columbia Special Products record shown above in this post.(The CSP banner kind of ruins the cover design though. I'm glad that cover wasn't used on the CD reissue). The reissue of MofC Volume 2 was also issued as part of the same Limited Edition series.

As for why The Columbia Album of Christmas Music (TCAOCM) has the original mono recording of MofC is probably because Percy Faith hadn't rerecorded MofC in stereo until 1959. As I mentioned, if they'd just waited they could have had a mono/stereo set with the new rerecordings of MofC, instead of TCAOCM just coming outwith the mix and match of the original 1954 mono verson (along with then current 1958 mono version of Hallelujah) due to the fact that there was NO stereo version of MofC at the time of the release of TCAOCM in 1958. I've never seen a reissue of TCAOCM. Do you know when it came out? I got my copy of TCAOCM, from a used record store in fantastic condition about 20 or so years ago.(That was the first time I'd ever seen it). You might want to check Amazon , GEMM, or Dusty Groove online to locate a copy.

When Columbia issued the double LP of Mr. Faith's 2 Christmas albums in 1958, there were no plans in the works for him to re-record Music Of Christmas. That decision did not come until the spring of 1959 (the actual recording dates were Tuesday June 16th and Friday June19th).

I'm surprised that Columbia didn't offer, in addition to the mono TCAOCM, a stereo set of TCAOCM containing the rerecording of MofC with Hallelujah and just note that the MofC was a new recording and that the original mono recording was available on C2L-15. Or perhaps they could have just replaced C2L-15's 1954 mono recording of MofC with the mono disc of the 1959 rerecord (with a note saying this is a new version) and give it a new catalog number so the mono sets contents would now correspond with the new stereo set (if they'd put one togther,that is).

Now you're assuming Columbia Records (and successors Legacy/Sony) acutally use logic about music lovers and their stereo records! We take it seriously, but I wish somebody at 51 52nd Street cared about music as much as we do and did their own proper remastering of Percy Faith's Music of Christmas from 1959 - Columbia DID remaster Andy Williams' first 2 Xmas LP's along with Johnny Mathis (w/Percy Faith) & Barbra Streisand's early Columbia Christmas releases. ....and...IF they don't want to remaster the '59 MofC, let somebody else do it right this time as noise reduction technology has evolved greatly since their hastily released CD in 1990.

I myself don't think that Music Of Christmas from 1959 needs remastering or remixing being Percy Faith totally re-recorded this album over in 1959 and it sounds just beautiful the way it is and I've mentioned this before, that if you listen the the 1954 album by itself and then listen to the 1959 album buy itself, you won't notice much of a difference other than it being in Stereo, but if you were to listen to both albums side by side, you would find a few subtle differences and also that there are some songs that are a few seconds longer on the 1959 recording.

Remastering it or remixing it would ruin an already perfect album, so they just need to take it from the master recording and not change a thing. Don't mess with perfection and in this case, Percy Faith's music is perfect the way it is.

When they remaster music, they often add reverb or make certain tracks louder. I don't know how many tracks the actual master was recorded in, but they had to mix them into two channels.

I don't think there is anything they could do to improve on Music Of Christmas from 1959. It's absolutely perfect and beautiful the way it is.

{EDITED by Christmas Always to correct a typo and add a missing word to correct grammar in a sentence}

Any news on how and when I can order these two CDs yet?. I listen to the samples on the mp3s at Amazon, ang the music is quite relaxing, sweet and superb. I want to own both of these soon and my hands are itchy; hope to order these CDs soon.

11-11-12 @ 01:17AMFollow-up to above message:

Chip, I just saw the 2 CDs as a pre-order in Amazon and it will be released on November 13? Disc 1 and Dis 2

I have bugged Legacy/Sony for years to remaster the stereo version of Music of Christmas. Today, out of the blue, I received an e-mail from them saying that it is "currently being reissued!" I sent a reply e-mail asking them if they are talking about the stereo version or the 1954 mono version coming out next week on the Real Music label. Whether they'll reply is questionable, since this is the first time they've ever contacted me in all these years.

Part of me thinks they're referring to the mono version, but if that's the case why should Legacy notify me since it's Real Music issuing the product? I checked Amazon, but I found no new version of the stereo CD--although they are out of stock on the item as direct sellers, a situation that happends ever fall on Amazon.

Sorry to disappoint you, but you misunderstood them. What they meant is that they are re-releasing the same version that they do at this same time every year. However, it's possible that they are referring to Gordon's new CD, which will be released tomorrow. But either way, unfortunately, there are no plans for Sony to re-remaster the stereo recording.

Glad to hear that you liked the new CD, Jeff. I hope that others will be pleased too. It was a sheer joy working with Gordon on this one and I am just elated that he finally took me up on my suggestion to reissue this legendary music by this most legendary of all Christmas music artists, Percy Faith. Glad that you also liked the 6-eye label on the CDs.